The McMartin preschool case was a classic example of public panic. Implausible images of child abuse surfaced during therapist's interviews with children. Soon the entire country was afire with childabuse accusations. The problem was, oops, the abuse probably never occured. The day-care workers were released from jail after they were found, um, innocent. Sorry about ruining your lives. No hard feelings.

How could this happen? To find out, we talked to Philip Jenkins, Ph.D., professor of history and religious studies at The Pennsylvania State University and an expert on moral panics. "Fear is a commodity," he told us. "And today, everybody's selling it."

Are panic epidemics a trend?

Every panic is a rerun. Consider all this rhetoric about the Internet - how, if it isn't regulated, it will spread smut and corrupt society. It's identical to the panic about the use of the radio in the 1920s. The U.S. seems more panic-stricken because many organizations are competing for influence. A good panic can help certain groups establish authority, power and influence.

How does a panic take shape?

In the mid 1980s, there was a Satan panic - tales of cults, sacrifices, missing children. Experts on Satanism were everywhere. But there were no real statistics. One woman claimed to have bred three children for sacrifice to Satan. She ended up on TV shows as an expert! A magazine finally did the most basic investigation and found that none of her claims could be substantiated. The panic fizzled when no victims were found. Or consider cases such as the McMartin preschool case. No abuse has been proven. None. But this was a fear that child-protection workers and agencies had a vested interest in increasing.

So the people who ought to be ending

the panic are in fact prolonging it?

No agency dealing with a specific problem is going to say, "Gee, I think we've got the problem licked." Then they'd have to find new jobs. The media benefit from a good story, and so-called experts benefit by becoming the first name on the Rolodex to be called by a TV show.

Are we paranoid to think men make

great villains in moral panics?

Men are often portrayed as members of a faceless hate group. Changes in gender relations and family structures have created a broad range of fears. When panic involves the role of family, men are usually portrayed as doing the bad, evil things. Public panics often focus on sexual predators - rapists, serial killers, molesters who target women and especially children. They are always male. These criminals exist, but numbers are exaggerated.

Why do so many people fall for it?

Often there is no alternative view, no opposing "experts" who have the ear of the media. So if the three networks put out stories about a satanic ring in a day-care center, who is to believe it is false? We often compare present panics to witch hunts - which is grossly unfair. The jurors in Salem had the decency to apologize.

How can you spot incoming

hysteria?

There's a clue if the statistics don't come from a reputable source and if there are specific groups or organizations standing to benefit from the hysteria who keep showing up in the media. The real key is to look at the figures closely. They mutate upward. A good example is the exaggerated belief that a large percentage of priests are pedophiles. A study of priests undergoing psychiatric treatment found that 6 percent had admitted to pedophile tendencies - and that became 6 percent of all priests.

Should we panic about panic?

Actually, you end up experiencing panic fatigue. After being constantly scared by imaginary fears, you can no longer recognize a real, rational risk. When a plausible danger is present, you don't pay attention. You worry more about cults and less about real problems, such as lack of education.